E-COMMERCE INFLUENCER MARKETING CASE STUDY
Oriental Trading Retail Brand Influencer Marketing Case Study
Influencer Marketing, Gifting & TikTok Shop Campaign
Oriental Trading partnered with House of Marketers to build brand awareness at scale. The campaign delivered 11.1 million views, a 2.95% engagement rate, and a 75% uplift in brand preference over top competitors. Continue reading for a full breakdown of how a TikTok-first influencer strategy turned an established retail brand into an even larger powerhouse brand in the party supplies, toys, and crafts space.
OUR CLIENT
Oriental Trading is a US retailer specializing in party supplies, toys, and arts and crafts. Oriental Trading already had existing retail recognition, but it needed to build stronger emotional resonance and top-of-mind awareness on TikTok.
OUR CLIENT
Oriental Trading is a US retailer specializing in party supplies, toys, and arts and crafts. The brand competes in a crowded space alongside Target, Walmart, 5Below, At Home, Michaels, and Hobby Lobby.
Oriental Trading already had existing retail recognition, but it needed to build stronger emotional resonance and top-of-mind awareness on TikTok. The goal was to turn Oriental Trading into a go-to, trusted name for celebration and creativity, not just another retailer on the shelf.
The Problem
The team from Oriental Trading were seeking to raise their brand awareness and reinforce their market position through scroll-stopping content that felt native, joyful, and memorable with TikTok audiences.
The challenge required a strategy that could accomplish the following:
- Build broad reach through dynamic, entertaining, TikTok-native content, using creators who authentically embodied the brand’s playful spirit, including teachers, moms, and creative families.
- Combine multiple content approaches, including an always-on influencer campaign, a gifted UGC program with everyday creators, and a TikTok Shop initiative, to drive awareness, authenticity, and conversion at the same time.
- Go beyond surface-level metrics like views and likes to prove the campaign’s real impact on how people felt about the brand.
Oriental Trading needed a creator-led, platform-native strategy that could drive reach and measurably shift brand perception.
Target audience
The campaign targeted parents, teachers, and creative families in the US who actively engage in party planning, crafting, and celebration-focused activities, alongside a core segment of women aged 34 to 55 who showed the strongest response to the brand.
The campaign focus was on reaching:
- Parents and teachers planning parties, classroom events, and celebrations
- Creative, social families who enjoy hands-on crafting and decorating
- Women aged 34 to 55, who emerged as the highest-intent audience across every brand metric tested
- Broader TikTok audiences aged 18 to 24, reached primarily for awareness rather than conversion
This audience required content that felt authentic and native to TikTok rather than like traditional advertising, ensuring Oriental Trading was not only seen, but perceived as a trusted, go-to brand for celebration and creativity within everyday family life.
Our Approach
House of Marketers built a three-pronged influencer strategy for Oriental Trading, combining reach, authenticity, and conversion into a single, connected campaign.
- Main Influencer Campaign: Partnered with 16 creators, including teachers, moms, and creative families, to produce dynamic, TikTok-native content that showcased Oriental Trading’s party, toy, and craft categories in an authentic, entertaining way.
- Gifted UGC Program: Sent curated product boxes to 17 everyday creators with strong community ties, generating organic, community-driven content that reinforced the campaign’s core message without feeling like traditional advertising.
- TikTok Shop Campaign: Partnered with 6 creators who specialize in TikTok Shop content to drive product visibility and conversion, using storytelling built specifically around the products themselves.
Together, these three approaches worked in harmony, using awareness-driving content to build reach, authentic gifted content to build trust, and shoppable content to convert interest into sales.
Results of the Retail Influencer Marketing Case Study
House of Marketers ran a multi-channel influencer strategy for Oriental Trading, combining an always-on awareness campaign, a gifted UGC program, and a TikTok Shop initiative to drive reach, authenticity, and conversion together.
Campaign outcomes included:
- 11.1 million video views across 73 videos and 39 influencers
- 2.95% engagement rate, nearly 2 to 6 times the industry benchmark
- 38% higher views and 44% higher reach than originally booked
- 45% lower cost per view than projected
- 75% uplift in brand preference over direct competitors
The campaign did not just drive views. It measurably shifted how Oriental Trading’s audience feels about the brand, while surfacing a clear, high-value audience segment to prioritize going forward.
